Deseret News
SOUTH JORDAN, UTAH, April 28, 2003: Nearly 200 of Utah’s Hindu community gathered at their new temple Sunday morning to welcome Lord Ganesha into His new home at the Sri Ganesha temple. The Sunday morning procession brought the Hindu Deity from the basement of a nearby home owned by Neel and Indra Neelameggham, which served as a temporary temple for the past several years while planning, fund raising and construction of the new facility were under way. Public consecration and opening ceremonies for the new temple are scheduled to begin Friday, with purification rituals, the bathing of Deities in milk, lighting of lamps, processions, a cultural program, music and feasting. The festivities run through Sunday, and people of all faiths are invited to attend. The 2,000 square-foot steepled temple cost about US$1 million to build, according to C. C. Patel, president of Gujarati Samaj, the local Indian community in the Salt Lake Valley. Donations of money and materials funded the project, along with volunteer labor from a variety of sources and people of different faiths. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) contributed $25,000 to help buy the land for the temple, he said. The Ganesha murthi was a gift to the community from H.H. Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, former head of the monastery on Kauai, Hawaii. Information about the weekend ceremonies or the temple itself can be found on their web site at www.sriganesh.faithweb.com.